E. Mason Hopper
E. Mason Hopper performed in vaudeville and with stock companies, played pro baseball, and studied at the University of Maryland before becoming a successful film director. Hopper began directing silent comedy shorts for Essanay in 1911. Just as Essanay was collapsing in 1916, he went into directing features, some of which remain well known among classic film buffs – Gloriana (1916), Hong Kong Nights (1935), Square Shoulders (1929) and No Living Witness (1932). Hopper continued directing talkies through 1935. He emerged a few years later to take bit parts in the films Slightly Dangerous (1943), The Man from Down Under (1943), Big Jack (1949), Riding High (1950), and Sunset Boulevard (1950).
Photo: Public domain, Wikimedia Commons.
